


Shards

by zeldadestry



Category: Fables - Willingham
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-11
Updated: 2008-04-11
Packaged: 2017-10-26 09:57:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/281687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeldadestry/pseuds/zeldadestry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She can laugh at anything, once she's laced up her combat boots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shards

**Author's Note:**

> written for Perch in the 2008 yuletide New Year’s resolution challenge  
> 

She’s not your angelic, demure, glass slipper wearing princess, got that Mundys? And she doesn’t live happily ever after, either, at least, not in a way they’d recognize or understand.

Of course, it’s not only the Mundys who’ve got it wrong. It’s not like the other Fables really know who she is, either.

She’s always been exactly who she is now. You know the word resilient? She’s the definition. The wicked stepmothers and stepsisters of the world, men and women alike, greedy and hateful, can put all the tedious tasks in front of her that they like, she’s still going to the ball. She’s still going to dance, and now she doesn’t even have to stop at midnight. She can dance all night, if she wants.

  
“You want to get things done in this world, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. Come on, I’m freakin _Cinder_ ella. You remember my story, don’t you? I did all the work others wouldn’t deign to do. I’m who you come to when no one else wants the job, and when no one else can handle it.”

“You’re really a tourist?” Beast gawks.

“I’m Bigby’s ace in the fucking pocket, Beast. Well, I was, anyway. I work for you now.”

  
She’s a no nonsense girl, and not the type to moan about love and complain about heartache. Understand? Good. She wanted to get that out of the way first, so that you’ll realize it really means something when she says she wants Bigby.

Yeah, she wants him, but Snow’s always getting there first. Cindy hadn’t even been married to Prince Charming for a week when he started whining about Snow. He claimed that if only she’d been willing to put up with him being such a whore, he’d have always returned to her, to their bed, no matter how delicious his latest conquest. It killed her way back then, but it only took her a decade or so to get over it. Now the only sting is over Bigby, Bigby and his devotion to Snow, and when she sees them together, she wants to puke.

Does Bigby ever tell Snow about all that he’s done? When Cindy left the hotel in Paris, she knew Bigby was going to kill Crane, and she also knew why. It wasn’t because he was a traitor, it was because he had tried to take advantage of Snow, because he’d hurt her. Cindy knew, but she didn’t say anything to him about it. Bigby’s a smart guy, and a shrewd one. She trusted him to do what he thought best, even if his reason was rooted more in revenge than in the protection of Fabletown. She knows Bigby’s a wolf in a man’s body, knows that human is only a costume he wears. Does Snow?

She hates Snow for playing the girly girl, leaning on her cane and collapsing against Bigby when he’s beside her. Hates her because she knows it’s gotta be fucking fantastic to have his arms around her, to know he’ll do anything for her, die for her.

Don’t take it serious, what she’s saying. She doesn’t really hate Snow, and she wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to her. She doesn’t wish harm to Snow, just because she’s the winner, always the winner, in this little battle they secretly wage against each other’s hearts. Hell, Snow doesn’t even know they’re fighting. Cindy’s just collateral damage, bleeding in the gutters of someone else’s epic love story.

Ok, ok, she’s had her say about the pain of it, and now she’s laughing again. Come on, there’s too much to do, always too much to do, too many adventures to be had, to spend any more time worrying and fretting over it. No way. Forget it.

She can laugh at anything, once she’s laced up her combat boots.

  
“I don’t know if I can live without her,” Bigby swears. They’re in Montreal, where Cindy’s on a mission; he met her here to tell her about the regime change and that Beast is her new boss.

“Christ, can you cut the melodrama?” she mutters.

“It’s fucking unbearable,” he continues, oblivious to her. “I wonder how far away I have to go before I can’t smell her anymore.”

“You’re imagining it,” Cindy insists.

“No, I’m not. She’s aggravated right now, probably with the pups, and she feels guilty for feeling aggravated, because she’s worried that a good mother wouldn’t ever get frustrated with her babies. She feels overwhelmed, and she’s tired and she’s sad, and why the hell can’t she see that I should be there?”

“Well, she can’t and you’re not,” Cindy points out. “And if you ask me, it’s pretty fucking rude to whine about lost love when you’re naked in someone else’s bed. Prince Charming always said I was better in bed than any wife he ever had. So is it true? I know you don’t love me, but am I a better fuck than dear Snow?”

Bigby grinds out his cig, lays a hand over his eyes. “I wouldn’t know.”

“What, you can’t decide?”

“I don’t know. We only, we never did, when we weren’t under the spell. And I, I can’t remember what it was like, how it happened then.”

“Really?” No wonder it hurts so bad. He’s loved her and lost her, but without ever even having her first. “That’s so fucked up.” It’s strange to see him turn away from her and curl up on his side like he wants to hide, like a little boy seeking safety under the covers, he who’s supposed to be the bringer of nightmares, never the sufferer. “Are you scared, Bigby?”

“No. You know I don’t get scared. I’ve never been scared in my life.”

“Yeah, sure,” she smirks.

“I am NOT scared,” he growls. “I’m furious. I had to leave Fabletown or I’d burn it to the ground, tear everyone apart.”

But she’s seen him angry, many times. Anger leads to action, however rash and ill-advised, not to running away. “Are you sad?”

“I can’t see my children. What the hell do you think?” But she knows that much as he might love his cubs, he misses their mother most. “I’m meant to be alone. I know it. I just let myself get caught up in a damn daydream.”

“It’ll be alright.” She curls around his back, kisses his neck, blinks away tears when he takes her hand and presses it against his heart. “You’re a good man, good enough for her. She’ll miss you and need you and want you and she’ll take you back, I promise.”

“But Cindy, what if she doesn’t?”

She wants to tell him he’ll always have her, but she’s only a good liar when she’s on the job. She has no idea what the intervening years will bring for either of them.

She has no idea, but she refuses to let that worry her. She is Cinderella and not afraid of ashes, ashes, we all fall down. 


End file.
